CM Edappadi K Palaniswami-PM Modi talks likely on Niti Aayog meet sidelines

New Delhi/Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami arrived at New Delhi late Saturday for participating in the fourth meeting of Niti Aayog’s Governing Council being held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre on Sunday. He is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the meet. The PM will chair the daylong session.

“Looking forward to the 4th Governing Council meeting of @NITIAayog tomorrow. Implementation of key policies relating to a wide range of sectors will be discussed during the meeting”, tweeted the PM on Saturday.

The council, apex body of Niti Aayog, includes all Chief Ministers, Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories, several Union Ministers and senior government officials.

The Council is expected to discuss important subjects including measures taken to double farmers’ income, progress of flagship schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, National Nutrition Mission and Mission Indradhanush, the development of aspirational districts and celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, according to an official statement.

Besides, development agenda for ‘New India 2022’ is expected to be approved in the meeting. Niti Aayog has been working on the strategy document for development agenda for ‘New India 2022’ for a while. Earlier, it had planned to come out with three documents — a three-year action agenda, seven-year medium term strategy paper and a 15-year vision document.

The Aayog, in a presentation last year, had said the foundation for freedom from six problems poverty, dirt, corruption, terrorism, casteism and communalism will be laid by 2022 when India celebrates 75 years of independence. At the Council’s first meeting on February 8, 2015, the Prime Minister had laid down the key mandates of Niti Aayog, such as fostering cooperative federalism by addressing national issues through mutual cooperation and monitoring of important schemes and programmes. It was also decided that the Aayog will act as the “think tank” of the government and work as a bridge between the Centre and the states.

Later, sub-groups of Chief Ministers and two task forces, one on elimination of poverty and the other on agriculture development were set up. The second meeting of council on July 15, 2015 reviewed the progress made by the three sub-groups of CMs and the two task forces. In the third meeting of council on April 23, 2017, PM Modi had pitched for conducting simultaneous elections of the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies and shifting to a January- December fiscal year.